Corinne Day

Corinne Day was born in England, and started her career as a model. While travelling and doing work for catalogues, she met Mark Szaszy in Tokyo and he trained her in photography. She began looking for fashion photography work with magazines and got her first job with The Face magazine for which she did a fashion editorial called “The Third Summer of Love” featuring Kate Moss. Although she was successful in commercial work, she decided she preferred “reportage” so she continued on to more documentary photography about her life and her friends.

   Day’s photos have an element of casualness and seem to reflect real life. She doesn’t put make up on her models, much of her photography is candid and she seems to use whatever lighting and surroundings that are available to her.  This first photograph that inspired me is from her “The Third Summer of Love” photo shoot. Kate Moss is sat against a grungy backdrop with a bed-head hairstyle and a cigarette in hand. She’s not very consciously posed and she’s holding her face in a natural expression. Everything from her wardrobe to her composure reads as casual and unforced.

   The second photo that I was inspired by was from her documentary photography phase; she put this one in her autobiographical exhibition titled, “Diary” and her biography of the same name. Judging by the look on her friend’s face, this photograph seems candid and unplanned. The pale colouring and unpolished setting are reflective of her style. I love the simplicity of her photography. She doesn’t try to make life seem any more extravagant than it is but she manages to create such a beautiful mood.

    The last photo I took inspiration from was also of Kate Moss in the “Third Summer of Love” exhibition. It’s taken portrait style so the subject was clearly aware of the photo being taken but there is real emotion being conveyed through her expression. Day’s photography really has an element of natural influence. As mentioned before, she doesn’t like to put make up on her models, she leaves their hair natural only adding occasional braids or crimps and she incorporates organic elements such as the necklace Kate has on in this picture. I think this makes for a feeling of freedom and youth that I really like.

              The three photographs of the ones that I took that I chose to edit actually turned out to be similar to the three I was inspired by.  I tried to achieve the effortless, grungy look by giving my model, Olivia, no make up except a smudgy dark lip colour, braiding her hair loosely and picking out a simple, vintage inspired outfit. I left the backgrounds natural, refraining from tidying up any clutter or grime. In my editing process, I dulled out the colours and added some light blur textures to replicate the camera quality that seemed constant through Day’s photos. I hope that I have achieved the same effect and mood that I take from Corinne Day’s photography, I love her work and she’s definitely a model for me in my work.

Sources

"Corinne Day - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinne_Day>.

"Corinne Day - Home." Corinne Day. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2013. <http://www.corinneday.co.uk/home.php>.

"Corinne Day (Vogue.com UK)." Fashion News, Latest Trends, Catwalk Photos & Designers (Vogue.com UK). N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2013. <http://www.vogue.co.uk/person/corinne-day>.

Alternative Process #3

Aperture: f5.6, Shutter Speed: 1/25

For my final alternative process, I decided to do a silkscreen. To start the process, I took pictures of my friend Olivia's eyes open and closed. After that, I put the pictures on photoshop and posterized them until only black and white were shown. I played around with the brightness, contrast and exposure until I felt the right amount of detail was shown. Then I printed them and had them transfered onto acetate. I stapled silk onto a canvas and covered it in emulsion. After letting it dry, I projected the images from the acetate onto the silkscreen using a light board. I scrubbed away the loose emulsion, leaving me with a silkscreen with my images on it. I placed the silkscreen over my t-shirts and used black and white fabric ink to press through the silkscreen, leaving the image on my shirts. I'm really happy with the way they turned out and I think I'll actually end up wearing them too!

Photo Journalism

On our field trip to OCAD, we had an opportunity to wander around the surrounding areas of Toronto to try our hand at photo journalism. The goal was to take a picture that told a story.

Every time I visit this area of Toronto, I try to have a meal at the eclectic "Village by the Grange" food court. It offers a wide range of food from various ethnicities and provides an interesting setting for lunch. But even if I don't have time for a full meal, I always make a point of stopping at the "Coffee Exchange." This is what I've captured in my photo above.

In the past, I've had time to stop and chat with the man who usually works behind the cash register. I've learned that he's also the owner of the shop and father of some of his employees. He's explained to me that the shop is family-run and "family morals based." They believe in fresh ingredients, fresh coffee and options for everyone. The Coffee Exchange does all they can to offer a wide variety of coffees, teas and decaffeinated drinks for anyone to enjoy. It makes it so much easier to want to spend money on your coffee fix when you know how much love and thought is poured into it. In the picture I took you can see all 10 of their freshly brewed coffees (all different roasts and flavours) and the daughter of the owner making a drink in the background. 

Alternative Process #2

Aperture: f5.6, Shutter Speed: 1/25

This week for my alternative process photo, I decided to do a photogram. I wanted to try and display different values as best as I could. For each letter, I layered different materials over top of my photo paper when I exposed it. For the opaque "F", I just used plain white paper. For the "A", I layered tape and stretched out cotton. For the "D" and "E" I just used clear tape but I layered more for the "D" than the "E". I think it was pretty effective.

Alternative Process #1

Aperture: f5.6, Shutter Speed: 1/25

This week I was working with an alternative process of photography. I did a gel medium transfer. To complete this process I took a photo, printed it and made a photocopy of it (for the most possible concentrated ink.) After that, I taped it to a masonite board and began to layer gel medium over it, letting it dry in between each layer. After about 20 layers, I took it off the board and dipped it into a tub of water. I rubbed off all the paper with my fingers so that all that was left was a thick layer of gel medium with the image transferred onto it. My final product was a slightly transparent, thick image with an interesting tint in it (likely from the yellow and blue paint residue that was on the paint brush I was using.) I'm very happy with it!

Breaking the Rules

This weeks assignment was to Break the Rules of composition in photography.

This photo breaks the rules because it is heavily asymmetrical. Although my dog almost lies on one of the key points in the rule of thirds, he still is a bit too off to the side. I think this composition still works because it conveys an affect of inferiority and submission that a dog might experience.

This photo breaks the rules because of the blank space in the middle of the composition. The items in the foreground are blurry and the candle in the background breaks the theme of straight vertical objects.  I think those things add visual interest and an element of chaos among an otherwise very pristine image.

This last photo breaks the rules mainly because of how heavy each side of the composition is. There is a predominantly white area on one side and a predominantly dark area on the others; these conflict. To add to this, there is a lamp dividing the room in half. I think this photo still works because the division creates an element of dysfunction which adds to the affect of a messy room.

Surreal Photography

Shutter Speed: 1/640, Aperture: f3.5

The goal of this assignment was to use a panorama or time lapse photo to create a surreal effect. To create this photo, I took multiple pictures of my friend, Cecilia, lying on the ground, progressively arching her back more and then I brought it onto photoshop and layered the photos on top of each other with less and less opacity and moving each one up a little more. I used layer masks to rub away the background on all of the photos except the first and I used the liquify tool to arch her back more on the last few photos.

Mixed Lighting

This week I was focusing on mixed lighting. I tried setting my friend Cecilia up next to windows to get natural lighting that way but it wasn't strong enough. I found some bright spots throughout the school from where the light was shining in through skylights and decided to shoot there. I was trying to capture strong, bright lighting against her face to create deep shadows. 

When I showed some of my friends the pictures of her sitting in the atrium, some of them thought she was outside at first! 

I shot all of these pictures with a DSLR camera at a shutter speed of 1/25 and an aperture of f5.6.

Renaissance Lighting

The Renaissance was an era of new perspective. Artists such as Da Vinci, Brunelleschi and Massaccio introduced the concept of 3D art on a 2D plane and one point perspective. Oil paint was also introduced, giving a whole new medium for artists to work with. Subjects of art were often used as symbolism or documentation. Art wasn't just used for decoration but also to send a message to those who would see it or even used as important documents such as wedding certificates (as seen in the Arnold-Feeney Wedding by Jan Van Eyck.)

This week, I played with studio lighting to mimic the lighting in a Renaissance painting called The Magdalen Reading by Ambrosius Benson. Mary Magdalen was one of Benson's greatest muses alongside Sybil Persica. He treated these women in a very similar manner. This particular painting was most likely influenced by Rogier van der Weyden's painting under the same title.


I used DSLR camera on my friend, Cecilia with a shutter speed of 1/13 and an aperture of f14.


Ambrosius Benson was an Italian painter who moved to Bruges, Belgium to be part of the Northern Renaissance. There's very little information about Benson and he didn't have much influence in Renaissance. However, he was very successful and was known at the time for being a religious leader within the artistic community.

Painting with Light

This week I practiced painting with light in the dark room using a DSLR camera.

These two photos go together to say "Walk Humbly." I used a bulb shutter speed and an aperture of f25. I shone the white flashlight onto my friend's feet and then wrote the words in with a red flashlight.

Shutter Speed: Bulb, Aperture: f25

Spiderman!

Shutter Speed: 20sec, Aperture: f25

Shutter Speed: Bulb, Aperture: f25

Shutter Speed: Bulb, Aperture: f25

I wanted to try painting with light with my favourite colour, purple! I found an all bright purple image on my iPhone and waved it around on a bulb shutter speed with an aperture of f25.

Shutter Speed: Bulb, Aperture: f25

Cecilia loves herself.

Shutter Speed: Bulb, Aperture: f25

Proper Studio Lighting

Using a DSLR camera, I photographed my friend, Olivia, in three different studio lighting settings. I tried to capture her thoughtful side and her friendly side.

Shutter Speed: 1/25    Aperture: f11

Shutter Speed: 1/10    Aperture: f5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/13    Aperture: f5.6

My Name in Nature

For this assignment, I was supposed to find shapes in nature and in my surroundings that resembled the letters of my name. It was interesting to look at the world in this way. I found myself finding letters in almost everything; where I normally never would have noticed. I ended up finding a good mixture between indoor and and outdoor inspiration and I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. It was funny how easy it was to find letters such as H and N and how difficult it was to find letters like B and A.

Philippe Halsman

Philippe Halsman was a portrait photographer in the 40's and 50's. He photographed many great artists and celebrities. Some of my favourite photos of Salvador Dali, one of my favourite Surrealist artists, were taken by Philippe Halsman (see two of them below.) Other than his collaborations with Dali, his work appeared on many magazine covers. He also did the photgraphy for the movie posters of Silence of the Lambs and The Descent. Halsman was born in 1906 in Latvia but spent most of his life working in Paris. 

A good portrait is incredibly hard to create, there is too much temptation to pander to the individual rather than portray them as they really were. - Philippe Halsman

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